High End Product Spotlight: Tarte's Cheek Stain

Hello my lovely readers. Today I'll be giving the lowdown on Tarte's cheek stain. For those of you unfamiliar with the Tarte brand, it is  a company that offers cosmetics made from natural, vegan friendly ingredients, free of many synthetics such as parabens and the like. I'm not a vegan, but I've been reading up on why the impact of having less synthetics in my life is necessary. (More on this in an upcoming post.) But enough about the company. On to the product itself. Cheek stain is essentially a gel-like form of powdered blush in ways. It does have it's own unique properties. Since it is a gel you don't have to worry about the powdery texture some traditional blushes leave behind. (Of course, it all depends on how you apply it, as with anything.)

I myself bought the cheek stain in Dollface, a bright magenta/pink with blue undertones. I hadn't even heard of cheek stain until I visited a friend of mine who swears by it. I tried a bit, and decided I needed to have some of my own. As soon as I saw the Dollface shade I was in love. What can I say?  I'm a sucker for the china doll look. So off to Tarte's website I went! The ordering process was easy, though there was a bit of a snafu with shipment- they sent me the entirely wrong product. They did, however, correct their error, and send out the product again. Double the wait time, but I ended up with a free mini mascara.

Tarte cheekstain in Dollface.

At first glance, I noticed that the packaging was chic and fun without a lot of excess. It was a simple pink tube with a screw off lid. The cheek stain fills the entire container, to which it's user simply pushes up from the bottom to dispense the product.Once I unscrewed the lid, I was greeted with a lovely fruit fragrance. Quite a change of pace from some makeup products that can be perfumed to death. I will warn you, this is sticky when applied. It's all natural, and a cheek stain. I'd wonder how it would be possible not to be sticky. That really is the closest to a complaint I or anyone I've known has with this product. It's blendable, and a little bit goes a long way. That being said, there is a massive amount per tube. Thankfully so too, because that price tag is nothing to laugh about. I've seen more expensive products out there, but I'm a lower middle class girl who scrimps and saves for the contents of her makeup bag.

"Push up" bottom of the cheek stain.

I have seen some other girls get really creative with the cheek stain and  layer powder blush over top for a very dramatic look. I haven't tried this, but I'm thinking on my next occasion to dress up I'll give that a whirl.

Overall, the cheek stain is highly recommended. I didn't even used to indulge in blush until this came around. Sadly, however, I haven't taken any decent photos of myself wearing the product. Perhaps I'll update this post a little later with more photos.

Drugstore Makeup Spotlight On Lipstick

There are some people who refuse to use anything less than high end. There are some who refuse to pay the price tag on high end products. Then there is me, a girl with a very small purse for beauty products, but who tries her damnedest to house a collection that is a happy balance between decent drug store makeup, high end, and independent companies.

This is a new segment in the blog where I plan to review some of the drug store brands that have worked out for me.

Tonights spotlight: Wet N Wild Megalast lipsticks. I was in a red phase, and I ended up buying a few shades from this line.

 

 

Wearing "Stoplight Red"

 These are like most other more expensive "long lasting" brands in that they can be drying. I have a few Mac reds that feel similarly drying. For a few bucks per tube it's worth putting some gloss on over to get wear out of. The packaging isn't nearly as nice as Mac, but for a Wet N Wild brand, and by extension, Wet N Wild price tag it's to be expected. My only complaint is the fact that the names of the lipstick names are on the plastic wrapping. If you aren't careful you won't be able to look and see what color you have after you've opened it.

Wearing "Cherry Bomb"

I also picked up "Red Velvet," but I found it to have a bit too orange of a tone for my liking. I'm sure it could work, but for those of you going for a true, bright 1940's pinup style red I'd suggest "Stoplight Red."

Busy, Busy, Busy...

It's that time of year. The time of year where we are all busy as hell celebrating a secular nondescript holiday. Oh wait, that's just us atheists who still partake in old traditions.

Anyway, I've been a busy bee with making handmade gifts, shopping, and working X-mas season as a retail slut. Point being, I haven't been posting on this blog as much as I would like to. In fact, I'm on my way out the door now. I do, however, want to provide some fun links for some of my favorite makeup inspiration sites.

MakeUpAlley- The social networking of makeup sites, complete with a swapping forum.
MakeUpBee- Post pictures of your face and have people  heart it.

Enjoy, my lovelies!

Getting Schooled: Eyeshadow Primer

There are a lot of superfluous makeup products out there; foundation primer, finishing powder, finishing spray. Eyeshadow primer, however, is not one of them. It really is something I would consider to be a necessity. There are quite a few products on the market- Too Faced's Shadow Insurance and Urban Decay's Primer Potion are the two most notorious. There are a few indie labels that have products along those lines as well. (See the bottom of this blog post for a list of helpful links.) Personally, I will swear by Urban Decay's Primer Potion. It's a daily makeup application essential. What's so magical about it, you ask? Did they bottle essence of unicorn? Maybe. What I've noticed it does for me is prolong eyeshadow color, make the color more vivid (even with less expensive drug store shadows), and help keep it in place. These are important factors to not only help you use less product, but to also help for those of us with naturally oily skin fight the battle of the crease line.

For those glamor addicts out there, I would also recommend Too Faced's Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue. It will literally glue the glitter to your face. It can also be mixed with loose glitter to make a nice glitter eyeliner. It is more difficult to wash off at the end of the night. You will have to scrub. But how else do you expect glitter to become glued to your face?

For those of you who are new to eyeshadow primers here is a helpful link list to get you started:

Urban Decay Primer Potion

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

Too Faced Shadow Insurance Glitter Glue

Lime Crime Eyeshadow Helper

Intro!

As with most girls living in the modern world of television, radio, and the internet, I've fought tooth and nail with my self image. I've always rejected and resented what can be termed "conventional beauty." According to Cosmo and Redbook and myriad other womens magazines I need this and that product to catch a man so he will marry me! That's not who I am. That's not who a lot of women are. If I didn't look like the airbrushed standard then something must be wrong with me. And yet...make-up is so alluring. High fashion has an art to it. And being an artistic sort of person, this always appealed to me. (This later segued to alternative fashion and indie designers.) Where did that leave me, a short, round, unmodelesque teenager?

I ended up experimenting with makeup and hair dye of my own accord. When I first became fascinated with creating a look beyond chapstick I didn't even know how to apply kohl eyeliner. My mother was a no muss no fuss sort of woman. I had to to find my favorites through *gulp* trial and error. And error. And error.

What I came to find is that makeup doesn't have to be a way of covering up features that don't fit into the cookie cutter image of glamor and beauty. You can do it because you find it to be fun. You can do it out of a love of theatrics. You can do it because you have a certain flare. Not because you need to be caked in makeup to venture outside of the house. Above all, do it for yourself.

So this blog will be a lookbook of things that interest me as well as product reviews and horror stories.
The power of the blog will help me help other girls make informed fashion and makeup decisions!
I leave you all with a video that has always moved me, Dove's "Evolution Of A Model."